Using Collocation to Boost Your IELTS Score – Key Word: Experience

Verb + Experience

Use the correct form of these verbs

1. She didn’t ___________ much experience of marketing, but they gave her the job anyway.
2. My father believes that it is better to ___________ from experience rather than from books. Personally, I think that you need to do both.
3. I’ve___________ a lot of valuable experience in the classroom this year. I now feel I’m a much better teacher than I was when I qualified a year ago.
4. The new CEO is like a breath of fresh air. He ___________ years of experience to the company.
5. Margaret, perhaps you’d like to ___________ your experience with the rest of the class?
6. The novel is about growing up in China in the 60’s. It’s ______________ the author’s own experience.

Adjective + Experience

Match the two halves of these sentences:

1. Training is provided, so
2. Studying at a university can be
3. John ’ll be late. I know from
4. How can you talk about poverty when you’ve had
5. The reason I didn’t make it to the second stage of the interviews is that I lacked
6. The diving course involves a one-hour lecture and

1. he necessary experience for the job.
2. past experience that you can’t rely on him.
3. two hours’ practical experience in the swimming pool.
4. a rich and rewarding experience.
5. no previous experience is required for the job.
6. no direct experience of it?

Noun Expressions

Match the two halves of these sentences:

1. They won’t consider him for the job because of
2. He’s worked in a number of different areas so
3. We’ll meet to review the proposed plans
4. Dealing with problems in the classroom is all

1. in the light of past experience.
2. a matter of experience.
3. his lack of experience.
4. his breadth of experience makes him ideal for the job.

Common Adjective Collocations

We also use the word experience to describe the effect something has on us. Fill the gaps below with the following adjectives:

1. The death of a close relative is a___________ experience, often leaving people emotionally drained.
2. We learned through ___________ experience that you can’t trust Brian. He’s let us down too many times.
3. McEnroe had the___________ experience of finally beating his old rival, Borg, in the final.

4. Nobody in the family will ever forget the trip to our grandfather’s birthplace. It was a ___________ experience.
5. Living in Central Africa was a ___________ experience. There was always something new and interesting to see or do.
6. Going abroad on a school trip can be a very ___________ experience for some children.
7. For most people a parachute jump is an ___________ and unforgettable experience.

Notes:

1. In 2-3 ‘first-hand’ is also possible.
2. In 2-4 ‘personal’ is also possible.

Note the prepositions that follow experience:

• have experience of teaching
• have experience with children
• have experience as a teacher

We use the expression ‘in my experience’ very often at the beginning of what we want to say:

• In my experience, this kind of skin rash will disappear in a day or two.

If we do something very exciting – for example, going up in a hot air balloon – we can say:

• That was quite an experience!

If you have a bad experience – for example, you lend money to a friend and they don’t re-pay you, you can say:

• I suppose I should just put it down to experience!

Answer Key

Exercise 1:

1. have
2. learn
3. gained
4. brings
5. share
6. based on

Exercise 2: 

1. e
2. d
3. b
4. f
5. a
6. c

Exercise 3:

1. c
2. d
3. a
4. b

Exercise 4:

1. traumatic
2. bitter
3. satisfying
4. memorable
5. fascinating
6. formative
7. exhilarating

Also check:

• IELTS Vocabulary
• IELTS Vocabulary books
• IELTS Grammar
• IELTS Listening words
• Sports Vocabulary IELTS
• English Pronunciation in use Intermediate pdf
• Work Vocabulary IELTS
• Advanced Vocabulary for IELTS